Happy Wednesday!
October is one of my favorite months of the year. Fall is officially here, the cool weather is coming in, leaves are starting to change colors, Halloween is right around the corner... I'm loving it. As for September, here's an update on everything that's been going on this month.
Writing: I finally got through the big revisions for St. Croix Falls 3 and announced the name for the third and final book in the trilogy. St. Croix Falls 3 will officially be known as Unearthed! It's been sent off to beta readers and I'm getting a much needed break from it before I get feedback from them. I also got to share some amazing character arc to celebrate sending Unearthed off to beta readers. Take a look at Mia and Rhett done by my awesome friend Keturah Dear:
I am absolutely obsessed with them! They're so amazing and I love it so much! I've never had character art done before, so this was just so cool. š
I'm almost at 40,000 words in Scarlet Phoenix. At the moment, I'm currently at 38,000 words. I had wanted to get to 50,000 words by the end of this month, but Unearthed and classwork and life in general had to take priority most of the time. This may just be the slowest I've ever written, but it's Okay because I'm enjoying every second of it. I'm also wanting to share a little bit more about that series as it progresses and I'll let you all know how I'm going to do that in October.
This was a spur of the moment sort of thing, but I wrote an Astoria and Asher short story! If you don't know who they are, they're two of my favorite side characters from my Weapon Icean duology. I realized that Weapon Icean will be turning five in December and wanted to do something special to celebrate. I wrote it over a weekend about two weeks ago and plan to revise and edit it and hopefully get a cover made up pretty soon. I'm not sure if I want to publish it now or wait closer to when Weapon Icean came out, but I'll keep you guys posted on that.
So, yeah, I feel like it's been a pretty productive month writing-wise. I got a lot done.
Reading: September has been full of Keeper of the Lost Cities, much like August. I'm on book five now and still have three more to go. This series so huge! I mean, it's so good and so fun to be rereading it in preparation for Unlocked, but seriously... it's so long haha
I'm also reading Sisters of Sword and Song by Rebecca Ross for a YA fantasy book club I joined and so far, I'm really liking it!
Life Stuff: It doesn't seem like a lot of life stuff happened in September. We finished unpacking completely and settling into the new house... I've been fairly swamped with classwork. Enjoying the cool weather starting to come through. I joined this YA book club, which has been such a blessing and a joy to be a part of. I'm excited to see where God takes it (it's part of a church, so it's not only full of YA fantasy book lovers, but Jesus lovers too!).
I am excited though that I'm starting to go to a chiropractor. I haven't been to one since I was little and so far the first two visits have been really promising and I'm just so excited and interested to see how it will go and how it might help my health. Chiropractics and wholistic, natural medicine can be such an amazing avenue for healing and I'm really hoping that it might relieve some of my anxiety while also helping physically as well.
I wasn't sure if I should include an update on the blog itself in the writing section or the life section since writing for this blog has impacted me so deeply. I mean all of my writing impacts me deeply and is important to me, but writing about faith and God and these encouraging words for others has taken my relationship with Him to the next level. I've been consistently writing faith-based posts for two months now! God has shown up to help me write these posts for two months! It blows my mind and makes my heart so happy. I've really felt Him pressing in on me recently and felt that not only is my writing books part of my calling, but writing these sorts of posts is my calling too. I'm not sure where it will or lead me, but I know that this is what God has me doing right now. It's a part of my anointing and I am trusting Him in that.
But I've also felt a small nudge toward writing about self publishing and writing tips again. I want to be a source of encouragement and helpful information for writers looking to self publish. I'm just trying to figure out the best way to do that... I think I can fit writing and self publishing tips and faith based posts on this one blog, I mean why not, right? It's just figuring out the best way to make it all work.
Overall, though, it's been a pretty chill month life stuff wise.
Looking Forward to October: Yay for October!! Oh my goodness, I'm so excited that it's October tomorrow! Halloween is 32 days away, the weather is going to get chillier and the leaves are going to be all pretty and fall and all that good stuff. I just love Autumn so much (if you can't tell). I'm not sure I have any real plans to look forward to. Of course I'm looking forward to Halloween and spending that time with friends and just having a fun time together. I want to hopefully go to a pumpkin patch or something and I must have my one time a year caramel apple to celebrate the Fall.
We're a little over a month away from Unlocked being released, which means I need to seriously finish the last three books of the Keeper series. Book club will continue through October, so I'll also be reading Sisters of Sword and Song. I'll have classwork to do and papers to write and all that...
Hopefully I'll get beta reader feedback back for Unearthed in October, so I'll be able to finish revising and editing this book. I'm hoping to have it published by mid-November or December at the latest. I'll be revising and editing the Astoria and Asher short story too (gotta come up with a name for that one now too haha) and I think it's a doable goal to want to get to 50,000 words in Scarlet Phoenix.
For the blog in October, I'm going freestyle like I did in July. I'll have everything from recapping what I learned about Jesus from the Gospel Reading Challenge to how to get through the valleys. I'm so excited to share the posts I have for this month and I hope they'll be an encouragement to you!
But, yeah, other than that, I'm not sure what else October will bring, other than all the Fall and Halloween vibes.
How was your September? Did you get a lot done? Read anything good? What are you looking forward to the most in October?
October is one of my favorite months of the year. Fall is officially here, the cool weather is coming in, leaves are starting to change colors, Halloween is right around the corner... I'm loving it. As for September, here's an update on everything that's been going on this month.
Writing: I finally got through the big revisions for St. Croix Falls 3 and announced the name for the third and final book in the trilogy. St. Croix Falls 3 will officially be known as Unearthed! It's been sent off to beta readers and I'm getting a much needed break from it before I get feedback from them. I also got to share some amazing character arc to celebrate sending Unearthed off to beta readers. Take a look at Mia and Rhett done by my awesome friend Keturah Dear:
I'm almost at 40,000 words in Scarlet Phoenix. At the moment, I'm currently at 38,000 words. I had wanted to get to 50,000 words by the end of this month, but Unearthed and classwork and life in general had to take priority most of the time. This may just be the slowest I've ever written, but it's Okay because I'm enjoying every second of it. I'm also wanting to share a little bit more about that series as it progresses and I'll let you all know how I'm going to do that in October.
This was a spur of the moment sort of thing, but I wrote an Astoria and Asher short story! If you don't know who they are, they're two of my favorite side characters from my Weapon Icean duology. I realized that Weapon Icean will be turning five in December and wanted to do something special to celebrate. I wrote it over a weekend about two weeks ago and plan to revise and edit it and hopefully get a cover made up pretty soon. I'm not sure if I want to publish it now or wait closer to when Weapon Icean came out, but I'll keep you guys posted on that.
So, yeah, I feel like it's been a pretty productive month writing-wise. I got a lot done.
Reading: September has been full of Keeper of the Lost Cities, much like August. I'm on book five now and still have three more to go. This series so huge! I mean, it's so good and so fun to be rereading it in preparation for Unlocked, but seriously... it's so long haha
I'm also reading Sisters of Sword and Song by Rebecca Ross for a YA fantasy book club I joined and so far, I'm really liking it!
Life Stuff: It doesn't seem like a lot of life stuff happened in September. We finished unpacking completely and settling into the new house... I've been fairly swamped with classwork. Enjoying the cool weather starting to come through. I joined this YA book club, which has been such a blessing and a joy to be a part of. I'm excited to see where God takes it (it's part of a church, so it's not only full of YA fantasy book lovers, but Jesus lovers too!).
I am excited though that I'm starting to go to a chiropractor. I haven't been to one since I was little and so far the first two visits have been really promising and I'm just so excited and interested to see how it will go and how it might help my health. Chiropractics and wholistic, natural medicine can be such an amazing avenue for healing and I'm really hoping that it might relieve some of my anxiety while also helping physically as well.
I wasn't sure if I should include an update on the blog itself in the writing section or the life section since writing for this blog has impacted me so deeply. I mean all of my writing impacts me deeply and is important to me, but writing about faith and God and these encouraging words for others has taken my relationship with Him to the next level. I've been consistently writing faith-based posts for two months now! God has shown up to help me write these posts for two months! It blows my mind and makes my heart so happy. I've really felt Him pressing in on me recently and felt that not only is my writing books part of my calling, but writing these sorts of posts is my calling too. I'm not sure where it will or lead me, but I know that this is what God has me doing right now. It's a part of my anointing and I am trusting Him in that.
But I've also felt a small nudge toward writing about self publishing and writing tips again. I want to be a source of encouragement and helpful information for writers looking to self publish. I'm just trying to figure out the best way to do that... I think I can fit writing and self publishing tips and faith based posts on this one blog, I mean why not, right? It's just figuring out the best way to make it all work.
Overall, though, it's been a pretty chill month life stuff wise.
Looking Forward to October: Yay for October!! Oh my goodness, I'm so excited that it's October tomorrow! Halloween is 32 days away, the weather is going to get chillier and the leaves are going to be all pretty and fall and all that good stuff. I just love Autumn so much (if you can't tell). I'm not sure I have any real plans to look forward to. Of course I'm looking forward to Halloween and spending that time with friends and just having a fun time together. I want to hopefully go to a pumpkin patch or something and I must have my one time a year caramel apple to celebrate the Fall.
We're a little over a month away from Unlocked being released, which means I need to seriously finish the last three books of the Keeper series. Book club will continue through October, so I'll also be reading Sisters of Sword and Song. I'll have classwork to do and papers to write and all that...
Hopefully I'll get beta reader feedback back for Unearthed in October, so I'll be able to finish revising and editing this book. I'm hoping to have it published by mid-November or December at the latest. I'll be revising and editing the Astoria and Asher short story too (gotta come up with a name for that one now too haha) and I think it's a doable goal to want to get to 50,000 words in Scarlet Phoenix.
For the blog in October, I'm going freestyle like I did in July. I'll have everything from recapping what I learned about Jesus from the Gospel Reading Challenge to how to get through the valleys. I'm so excited to share the posts I have for this month and I hope they'll be an encouragement to you!
But, yeah, other than that, I'm not sure what else October will bring, other than all the Fall and Halloween vibes.
How was your September? Did you get a lot done? Read anything good? What are you looking forward to the most in October?
I'm super excited for October too, glad you had a good writing month.
ReplyDeleteThat's always exciting!
I hope you have a great October! :)
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